Inside: Discover how to look more closely at your kindergarten schedule and balance the rhythm of your day so it flows more smoothly.

This article is an interesting look for early childhood teachers into a full day Kindergarten schedule that still incorporates play!

A Typical Day in FDK! I have noticed that a lot of people search for full day kindergarten schedules in Ontario. I am assuming this is to...

I've had lots of requests over the summer to share what I do for the first day and week of Kindergarten. I'm always a little hesitant to do these kinds of posts. Each school, team and community as well as the kids are so different. And although this will be my fifth year teaching FDK, I am no means an expert. I make mistakes, and I am tweaking and trying new things every year in hopes of making my program more meaningful and effective for the students I teach. But I do understand how anxiety reducing it is, especially for new teachers to see exactly what another teacher who has taught the grade before does/has done. So I have decided to share, but as you read this, please keep in mind that this is just one way of many many ways you could structure and run your first day and week. FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL: >> Arrival/Entry: 25 min. << Even if you don't have duty first thing in the morning, you'll want to be outside at duty time to meet and greet your new students and parents for at least the first day if not the first week of school. Show them where they can put their backpacks as they enter the Kindergarten pen. When the bell rings, show students how to line up with their backpacks and follow you into the classroom. As you come into the classroom for the first time, introduce the entry routines. Have students hang their coats and backpacks on their hooks, take their outdoor shoes off and put their indoor shoes on. Some of our parents send extra clothes on the first day so we help the kids take them out and put them in their bins. As students are done their entry routines they pick a learning centre to explore. Here is a view from my teacher table before we went out to greet the kids on the first day of school. >> Learning Centres #1: 20 min. << Always start with simple and self-explanatory or open-ended centres on the first day! You and your partner will most likely be busy helping students with entry routines and even possibly helping a few upset friends calm down. Don't make it even more stressful by putting out centres where they are going to require instruction or help! Some examples of things I put out during this learning centre block: Lego Centre: Play Dough Centre: These alphabet play dough mats can be found in my TPT store here. Writing Centre & Creation Station: My linking chart can be found in my Step by Step: Kindergarten Writing Plans unit here. Some other centres I open on the first day are: blocks/building, puzzles, whiteboards & dry erase markers, dramatic play (with minimal furniture and props), bookshelf, iPads and sandbox. If you want to see more centre examples from Learning Centres #1 you can check out my these blog posts: - Classroom Reveal 2016 - Classroom Reveal 2017 - Classroom Reveal 2019 >> Carpet Time #1 - Procedures & Routines: 25 min. << At the end of centres I say "Hands on top, that means stop" and have the students stop and put their hands on their heads. Then I say "When I say go, please put centres away and come to the carpet, go!" We then go around and show students where to put items away. Once most students have made their way to the carpet, I sing this song to reinforce carpet rules: Carpet Song (to the tune of Frère Jacques) Are you criss-cross? Are you criss-cross? Eyes on me. Eyes on me. Hands in your lap. Hands in your lap. Quietly. Quietly. Then I add: I like the way that ________ is sitting, ________ is sitting, ________ is sitting. I like the way that ________ is sitting, Oh so very quietly! (fill in names of students who are modeling great carpet behaviour in the blanks) Then, I introduce myself and my partner and welcome the students to our classroom. I also hand out name tags (usually just their name printed on sticker paper) to help me and my partner remember their names. Then I tell them that we are going to practice a name song to learn each other's names and also learn a few important rules about the classroom. We start with the "Name Song". I usually start by singing my partner's name and have her demonstrate the actions. If I have a big class, I start with 5-10 kids and then tell the students we will do the rest throughout the day. Then we go over the bathroom procedures. We have a bathroom that doesn't lock so we talk about only 1 person in the bathroom at a time, and turn the stop/go sign to "stop" when you enter the bathroom and change it to "go" when you come out. You can grab the stop/go templates for FREE here. Then we start an "At Centres" anchor chart. We put the title "At centres, super students..." and have students brainstorm what super students do during centre time. Usually the SK's will already know some things super students do at centre time (e.g. try different centres, use materials gently, share items with others, put things away when you are done, work on something the whole time etc.) so ask them to share what they know and write them down. Throughout the day after each centre block you can ask them if they have any other ideas to add until the anchor chart is full. Now I know this sounds like a lot and if you can't fit it in I would do the "At Centres" anchor chart before the next centre block instead, because you do want to go over any snack procedures you want them to follow before snack! >> Snack: 15 min. << In our class, I pick a couple of students at a time to line up in a straight line and remind them to wash their hands in the sink and dry their hands on the towel. Then we ask them to go and get their lunch bags and sit at a table. I don't assign seats so they can sit wherever there is a chair at a table. I set a large timer for 10 minutes. I love this timer because the kids can see the red part getting smaller as the time gets less and less. If they are done snack and the timer hasn't gone yet they are asked to put their snacks away, make sure the spot they were sitting at is clean (I have 2 mini brooms and dust pans they can use to clean up their space if needed) and then pick a book from the bookshelf and read on the carpet until the timer goes. When the timer goes I have students put their books and snacks away and come to the carpet. >> DPA: 10 min. << I introduce GoNoodle and I have a student who is sitting nicely come up and pick a song. While that student is choosing a song, I remind all students to be looking at the screen and thinking of what song they might like to choose in case they are chosen next. We do 2-3 GoNoodle dances. I review GoNoodle rules as needed after each song (stay in your space, hands to yourself etc). My partner usually supervises GoNoodle while I set up the next set of learning centres. >> Carpet Time #2 : 20 min. << We get going on creating our co-created alphabet line from the first day! This is what we did last year and what we are planning to do again this year. I start with talking about how we are missing some important things on the walls in our classroom. What are some things we should put up on the walls that would help us with our learning at school? I have the kids share what they think and we talk about the importance of an alphabet line and how it helps us with our learning (it helps us learn our letters/sounds, it helps us know the order of the letters etc.) Then I show them the plan I have in mind (the picture above). Then I say "We need to brainstorm some things that start with each letter so we can take a picture for each letter with things/actions or people that start with that letter!" Then we start brainstorming for each letter. First we add all of the students names under each corresponding letter. Then I have them tell me any item they want to see in our co-created alphabet line and what letter it begins with (if they can). We continue this for a few more days until all of the letters have at least 3-4 things. >> Learning Centres #2: 30 min. << We review our "At Centres" anchor chart quickly and students are invited to explore simple centres again. We mix in literacy-based centres in the morning. We circulate and talk to the students, help wanderers find centres and if I have time I pull kids and take head shots so that I have photos to use to make name cards for the word wall and to add to the cover of their writing portfolio's. FREE name card templates can be downloaded here. The templates for writing portfolio's can be found here. >> Prep: 30 min << Last year I had a prep period every day at this time but if not I would continue centres until lunch. Be sure to tidy up at least 10 minutes before lunch and review lunch time rules and routines (both for while they are eating and for playing outside)! >> Lunch & Lunch Recess: 60 min << Eat lunch! But also remember to do any important first day routines. At my last school parents filled in dismissal forms after they dropped their child off and we had to pick them up from the division chair and go through them quickly to familiarize ourselves with dismissal permissions. Touch base with your teammates if you have any too, they will remind you of any important first day procedures you may have forgotten! >> Entry / Book Box / Carpet Time #3: 30 min. << As students come in, I remind them of entry routines and invite them to grab their book box. This is a good way to see who can recognize their name. Have them sit on the carpet and read/look at their books quietly until everyone is reading from their book box. I keep this super short on the first day and have even done a story from Storylineonline.net instead (I highly recommend this site for indoor recesses too!) when we had staggered entry (the SK's came in the morning and JK's joined in the afternoon) so that the kids were engaged while we were helping the new friends that just joined. You can grab my FREE editable book box labels here or by clicking on the image below: >> Learning Centres: 75 min. << Especially if you have any new students joining in the afternoon, review the "At Centres" anchor chart. Quickly introduce the afternoon centres. I mix in numeracy based centres in the afternoon. Then we choose a few friends at a time to pick a centre until everyone has picked somewhere to start. Here are some centres I put out in the afternoon on the first day: A Number Provocation: Number Locks: Sorting & Shapes Sensory Bin: Some other centres I put out/have open in the afternoon on the first day are: blocks/building, dramatic play, creation station, puzzles, iPads, snack, a simple shape provocation, a simple patterning provocation, bookshelf and sandbox. Once everyone has picked a space to start in and are playing at centres, I pull any kids that I didn't get a picture of in the morning and small groups to do their September writing piece (only if I can!). You can download this first guided writing sheet by clicking here or on the image below (September to 2025 is included in the file.) This will be going up on our writing wall as our first piece of writing and it helps me see who can write their name independently. I make note on my clipboard who can recognize their name, who can copy their name, who can recognize letters in their name etc. so that I can make name bags for students who need more practice with their name. These name bags will be our first guided literacy groups eventually. You can grab name bag printables from my TPT store for FREE here. We have a snack table in the afternoon so students are invited to eat at that table when they feel hungry. For the first week or so I stop and ask students who have not yet eaten to go to the snack table about 15 minutes before centre time is over, to make sure that they eat what their parents sent with them and to remind the kids to eat. >> Carpet Time #3: 30 min. << Have students practice clean-up routines and come to the carpet. If you have time, have students share what their favourite thing from the day was. Then talk about dismissal routines and outdoor play rules. Make sure you are specific and clear about what is and isn't allowed so the students know the expectations before you get outside! >> Outdoor Play & Dismissal: 30 min. << Get ready to pack up and go outside. I have a bin with their agendas/zippys so I pull them out one at a time and call the student to get ready. Remind them to show their agenda/zippy to their parents when they get home and bring it back to school every day. Be sure also to tell students where you want them to line up after they are ready too! Once all students are ready, review the outdoor rules one last time. Tell students where to put their backpacks when they get outside. Also review what to do when the bell rings. I have students put their backpack in a line by our gate and then come to their backpack and get back in line when the bell rings. I remind students that it will take a little longer on the first day because I am still learning their parents and to wait until I call them to come to the front to be released. Remind them that they must wait until you call them so that I know they have been picked up by a safe adult and how important that is. I show them my dismissal clipboard and tell them I check each student off as they leave to make sure everyone left safely and if they leave out another gate without letting me or my partner know I would think they are missing! The kids seem to get it when we tell them why we don't want them leaving through another gate, especially without telling us first, when you tell them why it's so important. Also, make sure you check what the dismissal rules are at your school is as well. Can you let them go 5 minutes early if the parents want to take them early? Some schools are very strict about not letting anyone out before the bell unless they are signed out at the office. Check these things before the first day so you know what the rules are and can explain to parents that it is a school wide rule! We have all walkers so we get out early and let the kids play. As the parents arrive we make sure to go and greet them so that we can learn who the parents/pick-up people are for each child. When the bell rings, students line up at their backpacks and I call one student at a time to meet their pick-up person. Once everyone is picked up you can go back into the classroom! Phew! That was a lot. There is so much to remember to do on the first day. People often say if the kids all come, have fun and leave safely at the end of the day it is a first day win and it is so true. Don't stress too much about your centres or any guided work you wanted to do. Always focus on the rules, routines and procedures and only get to the the guided work (like the September writing page I mentioned) if you have time! The rest of the week is much of the same so I'm just going to post my week plans from last year, in case you want to take a look. You can download it by clicking here or on the image below. If I had previously written a blog post about an activity I have linked it in the PDF. If you open the PDF and hover your mouse over the page you will see the clicker change into a little hand where there are links on the page. Kelso's Choices is a social-problem solving program that the school's I have been at have used since my first year of teaching. It introduces a lot of Kindergarten friendly ways to solve social problems independently. You can learn more by going to their website: http://kelsoschoice.com I hope you find this helpful and it gives you some ideas on what to do on the first day of school/week. Good luck on the first day! - Yukari UPDATED 07.14.21: This post was written in 2017 and since then I have made lots of updates to my program. I'm not going to rewrite the whole post right now (I hope to do so in the future!) but I wanted to quickly highlight some new first day/week resources that I now use: The name poem I use during the first week of school can be found in my sight word poem pack here: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Fill-in-the-Blank-Sight-Word-Poems-for-Kindergarten-5914838 The read alouds I now use (and the corresponding lesson plans and printables can be found in my "Kinder Read Alouds - September" pack here: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/KINDER-READ-ALOUDS-SEPTEMBER-4266690 Here are some photos from the lessons: I also shared my centre plans for September to March in my "Kindergarten Centre Plans for the Entire Year!" last August. However, it is a growing document and I only have up to March completed. Other projects took priority this past year and I don't know when April to June will be added.. but hopefully you can use and enjoy September to March for the time being! If you download the file, most of the images are clickable and it will either take you to a product, a blog post, an Instagram post or an Amazon page, depending on what the centre is! You can download these here: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/-FREE-Kindergarten-Visual-Centre-Plans-5848330 I hope you find some of these resources/ideas helpful! - Yukari

I get a lot of e-mail asking about my daily schedule, so I thought I would post it here for you all to see. My schedule can change throughout the year and of course from year to year. Here is what it looks like right now: Hope that helps a bit!

Our full day in pre-k is busy, engaging and full of fun! The key is alternating the quieter activities with ones that involve more movemen...

This article is an interesting look for early childhood teachers into a full day Kindergarten schedule that still incorporates play!

I am sorry for being away from here for a few weeks. I truly appreciate all the emails I received from readers asking where I have been an...

Hey all! I hope that you are enjoying your last few days of summer. I've had some questions lately from both new and veteran teachers alike about year-long pacing of curriculum. How can you make sure

Are you having trouble finalizing your schedule? Too many things to cram in to every day? I hear you! Every year this is probably one of the hardest things for me to figure out, so I want to share how I fit everything I need to teach into every day. Here is a peek at what my weekly schedule looked like my last year in the classroom: Now let me break that down for you just a little bit... AM Routines/WTW Sort The first thing my kiddos do every day is pretty typical. They hang up their things, bring in their folder, hand in any notes/homework, pick their lunch and have a seat. After that I used to have morning work printables at their tables to work on but then we started using Words Their Way and I had to figure out how to fit this program into our day. My students get a new sort every Monday during our literacy block so Mondays are the only morning that they have a typical worksheet for morning work. Every other day they work on their word sort. (Tuesday: Cut & Sort, Wednesday: Sort again, Thursday: Sort & Write, Friday: Sort & Glue in journals) If they finish early they read books quietly. Intervention Then we have a school wide intervention time. This is the time that we really get to focus on our RTI students. Because this intervention time is school wide, our specialists, educational assisstants, SLPs etc are all able to help. This makes it possible for the students with the highest level of need to be in smaller groups, while students not in need of intervention are able to work with specialists in larger groups on enrichment activities. Writing Workshop We follow Lucy Calkins Units of Study for Writing so this one is pretty set each day. I do use individual goal setting with my students as well. You can read more about that here. Math Everyday we start our math block with this awesome calendar journal from Growing Kinders. Then we complete a daily math journal from my math journal pack here: Then my students work in small group with me, or on one of our math centers. Daily 5 I use the Daily 5 model for our literacy block and I have to say it is one my favorite times of the day. My students are always nice and calm during Daily 5 which is why I moved literacy to the afternoons. Math centers always got so crazy when students were all wound up from lunch and recess, so moving them to the morning was also a great decision. Inquiry Our district was moving towards an inquiry based approach to teaching in the content areas which I loved, but still had to put my kindergarten spin on it. I always taught thematically. I enjoyed it, the kids enjoyed it, so I tried to find a way to make that work with the inquiry model. Here are the themes I used. Read Aloud I always end the day with a read aloud. As students pack up their bags and get ready to go, I begin reading. This helps quiet students down so my room doesn't turn into a zoo. It also gives me something purposeful to do for the last few minutes while students are being picked up for buses, or after school programs. I try to pick a chapter book that relates to the season or themes we are learning about. I choose frog and toad at the beginning of the year so that students get used to the routine with shorter chapters that often have a few pictures to share. Later in the year I read Charlotte's web, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, etc. Hopefully this was helpful to you in some way. I know I am always curious to see how other teachers structure their day, and usually get ideas for tweaking my own schedule as well. Happy planning friends!

Preschool daily schedule examples, hours, and free printable template for full-day and half-day Preschool and Pre-K classrooms.

Check out my daily Transitional Kindergarten schedule to take a peek at a "normal" day in a TK classroom that includes PLAY!

Hey all! I hope that you are enjoying your last few days of summer. I've had some questions lately from both new and veteran teachers alike about year-long pacing of curriculum. How can you make sure

Last Thursday I posted that we started the ABC Countdown to the end of the year! I am going to use this post to update and post pictures of each day of fun, so be sure to keep checking back to see what we did! If you missed the first post you can find it here: You can download the editable ABC template, as well as the letters you see on our door for free! A is for Art! There is more about our 'A Day' on the previous post, so be sure to check that out! B is for BINGO! We played Number BINGO as our 'math' for the day! They had to ID the numbers and when they got BINGO they got to pick from the famous treasure chest! C is for Candy! I made a Candyland-like game to review sight words, CVC words, numbers and using a ten frame. They worked in teams to answer the questions. First team to finish got 6 extra pieces of candy! (2nd place got 5 extra, 3rd place got 4 extra, 4th place got 3 extra, 5th place got 2 extra and 6th place got 1 extra). To play: I put magnetic tape on the back of the candy 'pawns' 1-6 and also gave each team a printout of their team number. I moved the pieces on the board as they answered the questions correctly. I changed the 'value' of each question round by round. Sometimes they were worth 1 space, others 2 and sometimes 3! When the playing cards ran out, I just shuffled and used them again until each team reached 'Finish!' I made these 'candy bags' to collect the treats- and to hold them safe until we got home to share and eat the rest of our loot! Find the game, game board and candy bags for free here! Here were our plates of candy ready to be shared! 'Digging In' was so much fun! We counted the candy as we went to keep it somewhat 'academic!' Each person ended with a stuffed bag! SWEET! D is for Dance! I don't have any pictures of our dance party! We did the Chicken Dance, Macarena, Cha-Cha Slide, Hokey Pokey and Free Style (dance as you please!) E is for Exercise! We used Go-Noodle for our exercise fun! If you have never Go-Noodled, you have no idea what you are missing! If you have, you know what a gem it is! Here are just a few of what we did: 'I Like To Move It!' We won a gold medal! Our favorite! We also did Chillax and O'Maximo's Eagle Pretzel yoga! F is for Favorite Book (with Friends) Everyone brought in a favorite book (and if they forgot, they borrowed a favorite from our Book Nook). They kept the books at their seats all day to read when they finished activities, but after lunch we took them all outside! We loved sharing our favorite parts with our friends! It was such a beautiful day...we enjoyed some relaxing time in the shade! We took turns reading to each other! And we helped each other figure out tricky words! We couldn't leave poor Pete inside...he snagged Mrs. Drake's favorite book to read....but then let her read it to the class outside before we headed in for math! G is for Game Day! We had a lot of fun games come in- and it was also a rainy day with indoor recess, so we got extra time with our games! Here are a few that we played: It was so nice to see so many 'classic' games come in! Some were my favorites when I was in kindergarten many (MANY) years ago! My son is also in kindergarten and doing ABC Countdown. He had 'G is for Game Day' too so we made a Lego-inspired set of cards that he could use to play 3 different games- Brick Memory, Brick War and 'Go Build.' I printed a second set to play in my class, but almost everyone had a game and those that did not were happy to join in with someone who had one so it wasn't needed! I'll just keep it handy for the last few days when we need some 'new fun' to keep up occupied! Here are some pictures of my boys giving the games a trial run! I pulled out scrapbook and printed on the back so that you couldn't see through them while playing! You can read about how I did that on my post from November. If you are looking for a fun, easy to prep game with your Lego enthusiasts, I put this game up as a few download! Just click here! H is for Hat Day! Since it was a Monday, many forgot to wear their hats. I was at a meeting in the morning, but when I came back in the afternoon they all got a kick out of my hat: I is for 'I Am Special' Day! Today we talked about what makes us special! Every year I have the students draw self-portraits the first week of school. I also have them write their names the best they can. I display them for 'Meet the Teacher' night, but then store them away for the remainder of the year. In June I have them draw a self-portrait again (I don't show them their earlier one yet). They also add their name. I staple their 'September' and 'June' portraits side by side on a sentence strip. For 'I Am Special Day' we drew our self-portraits to show all our special qualities! They were IN SHOCK when I showed them their previous portraits! Many doubted it was their work! Here is the fabulous growth of some of my kinders over a short 10 month time! Aren't they amazing?!!! I can't wait for their parents to see these!! J is for Juggle and Jump Day! Today was all about moving and shaking!! I purchased jump ropes from Amazon (12 for $9.77) so that each child could have his/her own jump rope for the day and then to take home to keep moving all summer long! I opened the packages and put each jump rope in a gallon size sliding Ziploc bag so that they could easily take it out/put away and it would have a safe place to travel home! It was time to JUMP! I had tennis balls for them to practice juggling too! If you want to do the same, here are the tags I made to use. You can download them for FREE! K is for Kindness Day! Today we focused on being kind all day long! We read 'I'm A Good Friend' and talked about ways to show kindness. We made a chart of all 'kind' phrases and words: Then it was time to make a 'kind' poster for each other! I had the kids write their names with marker in the middle of a 12x18 piece of construction paper using a marker. They put a 'bubble' around it. Then they took their crayon boxes and took to the room! They wrote a kind word, phrase or picture on each person's poster until all the posters were full of kindness! They even took to writing to my poster! I love all these messages squished together! We are full of kindness in Room 66! L is for Lollipops! They got to choose from Blow Pops or Tootsie Roll Pops and got one to eat in school and one to take home! We didn't get to create a paper lollipop because we were so busy finishing a hungry caterpillar craft, but we did listen and dance to the 'The Lollipop Song' on YouTube! M is for Memories! Today we talked all about our memories of kindergarten! And then each child made a picture for our memory book! (We are still waiting on a few entries from students that were absent, but then I can copy and bind them and send them home with each student!) Here are just a few pages in our book.... I also put a copy of their individual favorites poster on the back side of their page. Here is the color version they will each get to take home the last week of school: N is for Neon! Being a child of the 80's I grew up in NEON! BUT...I could not find any neon 'grown up' attire to wear...so I opted for this... Many of the kids had neon! I didn't get to snap of picture of them in the neon, but we did use some neon sentence strips to create bright 'no rules- create as you like' collages! O is for Opposite! We started the day by saying 'Good Night' instead of 'Good Morning' and did everything opposite until it was time to leave (saying 'Hello' instead of 'Goodbye!') They LOVED walking backwards in the hall...and sporting their opposite shirts all day! Stay tuned for the rest of our alphabet adventures! Until next post,

Join this special community helpers circle time for a full week of free virtual preschool. We will learn about firefighters, doctors, teachers, and more!

This blog post is full of ideas for the First Week of Kindergarten. Includes book suggestions, activities, and links to accompanying ideas.

Check out my daily Transitional Kindergarten schedule to take a peek at a "normal" day in a TK classroom that includes PLAY!

Are you feeling completely lost when it comes to planning for the first day of school? Are you overwhelmed with where to start? Are you stuck wondering how to fill a school day with new students? Or how to fit it all in a day? If so, know that these feelings are completely normal! Even...

These three classroom management tips get me ready for a brand new school year. As each new group of students arrives, I like to bring back what works in my

I've had lots of requests over the summer to share what I do for the first day and week of Kindergarten. I'm always a little hesitant to do these kinds of posts. Each school, team and community as well as the kids are so different. And although this will be my fifth year teaching FDK, I am no means an expert. I make mistakes, and I am tweaking and trying new things every year in hopes of making my program more meaningful and effective for the students I teach. But I do understand how anxiety reducing it is, especially for new teachers to see exactly what another teacher who has taught the grade before does/has done. So I have decided to share, but as you read this, please keep in mind that this is just one way of many many ways you could structure and run your first day and week. FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL: >> Arrival/Entry: 25 min. << Even if you don't have duty first thing in the morning, you'll want to be outside at duty time to meet and greet your new students and parents for at least the first day if not the first week of school. Show them where they can put their backpacks as they enter the Kindergarten pen. When the bell rings, show students how to line up with their backpacks and follow you into the classroom. As you come into the classroom for the first time, introduce the entry routines. Have students hang their coats and backpacks on their hooks, take their outdoor shoes off and put their indoor shoes on. Some of our parents send extra clothes on the first day so we help the kids take them out and put them in their bins. As students are done their entry routines they pick a learning centre to explore. Here is a view from my teacher table before we went out to greet the kids on the first day of school. >> Learning Centres #1: 20 min. << Always start with simple and self-explanatory or open-ended centres on the first day! You and your partner will most likely be busy helping students with entry routines and even possibly helping a few upset friends calm down. Don't make it even more stressful by putting out centres where they are going to require instruction or help! Some examples of things I put out during this learning centre block: Lego Centre: Play Dough Centre: These alphabet play dough mats can be found in my TPT store here. Writing Centre & Creation Station: My linking chart can be found in my Step by Step: Kindergarten Writing Plans unit here. Some other centres I open on the first day are: blocks/building, puzzles, whiteboards & dry erase markers, dramatic play (with minimal furniture and props), bookshelf, iPads and sandbox. If you want to see more centre examples from Learning Centres #1 you can check out my these blog posts: - Classroom Reveal 2016 - Classroom Reveal 2017 - Classroom Reveal 2019 >> Carpet Time #1 - Procedures & Routines: 25 min. << At the end of centres I say "Hands on top, that means stop" and have the students stop and put their hands on their heads. Then I say "When I say go, please put centres away and come to the carpet, go!" We then go around and show students where to put items away. Once most students have made their way to the carpet, I sing this song to reinforce carpet rules: Carpet Song (to the tune of Frère Jacques) Are you criss-cross? Are you criss-cross? Eyes on me. Eyes on me. Hands in your lap. Hands in your lap. Quietly. Quietly. Then I add: I like the way that ________ is sitting, ________ is sitting, ________ is sitting. I like the way that ________ is sitting, Oh so very quietly! (fill in names of students who are modeling great carpet behaviour in the blanks) Then, I introduce myself and my partner and welcome the students to our classroom. I also hand out name tags (usually just their name printed on sticker paper) to help me and my partner remember their names. Then I tell them that we are going to practice a name song to learn each other's names and also learn a few important rules about the classroom. We start with the "Name Song". I usually start by singing my partner's name and have her demonstrate the actions. If I have a big class, I start with 5-10 kids and then tell the students we will do the rest throughout the day. Then we go over the bathroom procedures. We have a bathroom that doesn't lock so we talk about only 1 person in the bathroom at a time, and turn the stop/go sign to "stop" when you enter the bathroom and change it to "go" when you come out. You can grab the stop/go templates for FREE here. Then we start an "At Centres" anchor chart. We put the title "At centres, super students..." and have students brainstorm what super students do during centre time. Usually the SK's will already know some things super students do at centre time (e.g. try different centres, use materials gently, share items with others, put things away when you are done, work on something the whole time etc.) so ask them to share what they know and write them down. Throughout the day after each centre block you can ask them if they have any other ideas to add until the anchor chart is full. Now I know this sounds like a lot and if you can't fit it in I would do the "At Centres" anchor chart before the next centre block instead, because you do want to go over any snack procedures you want them to follow before snack! >> Snack: 15 min. << In our class, I pick a couple of students at a time to line up in a straight line and remind them to wash their hands in the sink and dry their hands on the towel. Then we ask them to go and get their lunch bags and sit at a table. I don't assign seats so they can sit wherever there is a chair at a table. I set a large timer for 10 minutes. I love this timer because the kids can see the red part getting smaller as the time gets less and less. If they are done snack and the timer hasn't gone yet they are asked to put their snacks away, make sure the spot they were sitting at is clean (I have 2 mini brooms and dust pans they can use to clean up their space if needed) and then pick a book from the bookshelf and read on the carpet until the timer goes. When the timer goes I have students put their books and snacks away and come to the carpet. >> DPA: 10 min. << I introduce GoNoodle and I have a student who is sitting nicely come up and pick a song. While that student is choosing a song, I remind all students to be looking at the screen and thinking of what song they might like to choose in case they are chosen next. We do 2-3 GoNoodle dances. I review GoNoodle rules as needed after each song (stay in your space, hands to yourself etc). My partner usually supervises GoNoodle while I set up the next set of learning centres. >> Carpet Time #2 : 20 min. << We get going on creating our co-created alphabet line from the first day! This is what we did last year and what we are planning to do again this year. I start with talking about how we are missing some important things on the walls in our classroom. What are some things we should put up on the walls that would help us with our learning at school? I have the kids share what they think and we talk about the importance of an alphabet line and how it helps us with our learning (it helps us learn our letters/sounds, it helps us know the order of the letters etc.) Then I show them the plan I have in mind (the picture above). Then I say "We need to brainstorm some things that start with each letter so we can take a picture for each letter with things/actions or people that start with that letter!" Then we start brainstorming for each letter. First we add all of the students names under each corresponding letter. Then I have them tell me any item they want to see in our co-created alphabet line and what letter it begins with (if they can). We continue this for a few more days until all of the letters have at least 3-4 things. >> Learning Centres #2: 30 min. << We review our "At Centres" anchor chart quickly and students are invited to explore simple centres again. We mix in literacy-based centres in the morning. We circulate and talk to the students, help wanderers find centres and if I have time I pull kids and take head shots so that I have photos to use to make name cards for the word wall and to add to the cover of their writing portfolio's. FREE name card templates can be downloaded here. The templates for writing portfolio's can be found here. >> Prep: 30 min << Last year I had a prep period every day at this time but if not I would continue centres until lunch. Be sure to tidy up at least 10 minutes before lunch and review lunch time rules and routines (both for while they are eating and for playing outside)! >> Lunch & Lunch Recess: 60 min << Eat lunch! But also remember to do any important first day routines. At my last school parents filled in dismissal forms after they dropped their child off and we had to pick them up from the division chair and go through them quickly to familiarize ourselves with dismissal permissions. Touch base with your teammates if you have any too, they will remind you of any important first day procedures you may have forgotten! >> Entry / Book Box / Carpet Time #3: 30 min. << As students come in, I remind them of entry routines and invite them to grab their book box. This is a good way to see who can recognize their name. Have them sit on the carpet and read/look at their books quietly until everyone is reading from their book box. I keep this super short on the first day and have even done a story from Storylineonline.net instead (I highly recommend this site for indoor recesses too!) when we had staggered entry (the SK's came in the morning and JK's joined in the afternoon) so that the kids were engaged while we were helping the new friends that just joined. You can grab my FREE editable book box labels here or by clicking on the image below: >> Learning Centres: 75 min. << Especially if you have any new students joining in the afternoon, review the "At Centres" anchor chart. Quickly introduce the afternoon centres. I mix in numeracy based centres in the afternoon. Then we choose a few friends at a time to pick a centre until everyone has picked somewhere to start. Here are some centres I put out in the afternoon on the first day: A Number Provocation: Number Locks: Sorting & Shapes Sensory Bin: Some other centres I put out/have open in the afternoon on the first day are: blocks/building, dramatic play, creation station, puzzles, iPads, snack, a simple shape provocation, a simple patterning provocation, bookshelf and sandbox. Once everyone has picked a space to start in and are playing at centres, I pull any kids that I didn't get a picture of in the morning and small groups to do their September writing piece (only if I can!). You can download this first guided writing sheet by clicking here or on the image below (September to 2025 is included in the file.) This will be going up on our writing wall as our first piece of writing and it helps me see who can write their name independently. I make note on my clipboard who can recognize their name, who can copy their name, who can recognize letters in their name etc. so that I can make name bags for students who need more practice with their name. These name bags will be our first guided literacy groups eventually. You can grab name bag printables from my TPT store for FREE here. We have a snack table in the afternoon so students are invited to eat at that table when they feel hungry. For the first week or so I stop and ask students who have not yet eaten to go to the snack table about 15 minutes before centre time is over, to make sure that they eat what their parents sent with them and to remind the kids to eat. >> Carpet Time #3: 30 min. << Have students practice clean-up routines and come to the carpet. If you have time, have students share what their favourite thing from the day was. Then talk about dismissal routines and outdoor play rules. Make sure you are specific and clear about what is and isn't allowed so the students know the expectations before you get outside! >> Outdoor Play & Dismissal: 30 min. << Get ready to pack up and go outside. I have a bin with their agendas/zippys so I pull them out one at a time and call the student to get ready. Remind them to show their agenda/zippy to their parents when they get home and bring it back to school every day. Be sure also to tell students where you want them to line up after they are ready too! Once all students are ready, review the outdoor rules one last time. Tell students where to put their backpacks when they get outside. Also review what to do when the bell rings. I have students put their backpack in a line by our gate and then come to their backpack and get back in line when the bell rings. I remind students that it will take a little longer on the first day because I am still learning their parents and to wait until I call them to come to the front to be released. Remind them that they must wait until you call them so that I know they have been picked up by a safe adult and how important that is. I show them my dismissal clipboard and tell them I check each student off as they leave to make sure everyone left safely and if they leave out another gate without letting me or my partner know I would think they are missing! The kids seem to get it when we tell them why we don't want them leaving through another gate, especially without telling us first, when you tell them why it's so important. Also, make sure you check what the dismissal rules are at your school is as well. Can you let them go 5 minutes early if the parents want to take them early? Some schools are very strict about not letting anyone out before the bell unless they are signed out at the office. Check these things before the first day so you know what the rules are and can explain to parents that it is a school wide rule! We have all walkers so we get out early and let the kids play. As the parents arrive we make sure to go and greet them so that we can learn who the parents/pick-up people are for each child. When the bell rings, students line up at their backpacks and I call one student at a time to meet their pick-up person. Once everyone is picked up you can go back into the classroom! Phew! That was a lot. There is so much to remember to do on the first day. People often say if the kids all come, have fun and leave safely at the end of the day it is a first day win and it is so true. Don't stress too much about your centres or any guided work you wanted to do. Always focus on the rules, routines and procedures and only get to the the guided work (like the September writing page I mentioned) if you have time! The rest of the week is much of the same so I'm just going to post my week plans from last year, in case you want to take a look. You can download it by clicking here or on the image below. If I had previously written a blog post about an activity I have linked it in the PDF. If you open the PDF and hover your mouse over the page you will see the clicker change into a little hand where there are links on the page. Kelso's Choices is a social-problem solving program that the school's I have been at have used since my first year of teaching. It introduces a lot of Kindergarten friendly ways to solve social problems independently. You can learn more by going to their website: http://kelsoschoice.com I hope you find this helpful and it gives you some ideas on what to do on the first day of school/week. Good luck on the first day! - Yukari UPDATED 07.14.21: This post was written in 2017 and since then I have made lots of updates to my program. I'm not going to rewrite the whole post right now (I hope to do so in the future!) but I wanted to quickly highlight some new first day/week resources that I now use: The name poem I use during the first week of school can be found in my sight word poem pack here: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Fill-in-the-Blank-Sight-Word-Poems-for-Kindergarten-5914838 The read alouds I now use (and the corresponding lesson plans and printables can be found in my "Kinder Read Alouds - September" pack here: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/KINDER-READ-ALOUDS-SEPTEMBER-4266690 Here are some photos from the lessons: I also shared my centre plans for September to March in my "Kindergarten Centre Plans for the Entire Year!" last August. However, it is a growing document and I only have up to March completed. Other projects took priority this past year and I don't know when April to June will be added.. but hopefully you can use and enjoy September to March for the time being! If you download the file, most of the images are clickable and it will either take you to a product, a blog post, an Instagram post or an Amazon page, depending on what the centre is! You can download these here: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/-FREE-Kindergarten-Visual-Centre-Plans-5848330 I hope you find some of these resources/ideas helpful! - Yukari

Several lesson ideas and anchor charts to use when Teaching Kindergartners How to Write a Sentence. Uses the gradual release model to full implication.

This preschool curriculum covers everything your kids need to know before kindergarten PLUS it is super easy for you to follow and implement as a parent!

Monthly Self Portrait Journal for Preschool and Kindergarten with seasonal and nonseasonal versions and special day pages.

It’s springtime, and that means kindergarten round-up in my neck of the woods. Our district takes four full days to meet, greet and screen all the incoming “5 before November...

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Don't miss out on this free kindergarten prep worksheet! It's free and has over 20 pages for your child to use and learn from!

2D and 3D Shapes: This resource will help your students learn about a variety of 2D shapes and 3D shapes! Students will get practice identifying shapes, drawing shapes, counting sides/corners of shapes and more! The shapes included are: circle, square, triangle, rectangle, oval, rhombus, trapezoid, pentagon, hexagon, sphere, cube, cone and cylinder. All printables require NO PREP! These printables can be used for independent work, morning work, homework and math centers! The skills included in this shapes packet are: Identify 2D and 3D Shapes Draw 2D Shapes Identify the Number of Sides and Corners of 2D Shapes Match Objects to 2D and 3D Shapes Complete Patterns using 2D and 3D Shapes Compare Side Lengths of 2D Shapes Graph with 2D and 3D Shapes The activities included are: All About Shapes (9 pages) – Each page focuses on one 2D shape (square, rectangle, triangle, circle, oval, rhombus, trapezoid, pentagon, hexagon). The skills included on each page are: identify the shape, draw the shape, count the sides and corners on the shape, and identify shapes of objects Rainbow Drawing – Draw shapes using a different color for each shape (1 page) Race To The Top – Roll a dice. Trace the shape based on the number rolled (1 page) Sort Objects by 2D Shape – cut and paste (1 page) Sort Shapes by Number of Sides – cut and paste (1 page) Sort Shapes based on side length (equal or not) – cut and paste (1 page) 2D Patterns – What shape comes next? (2 pages) Draw Pictures Using Shapes - Follow step-by-step drawings to draw a picture using shapes (2 pages) Match Objects to 3D Shapes (2 pages) Sort Objects by 3D Shape – cut and paste (1 page) Graph 3D Shapes (Sphere, Cube, Cone, Cylinder) (1 page) 3D Patterns – What Shape comes next? – cut and paste (1 page) Sort 2D and 3D Shapes – cut and paste (1 page) Graph Classmate’s Favorite Shape (2 pages) Color Pictures using the Shapes Color Key (2 pages) You may also be interested in my Shape Posters. Thanks for checking out this item! My Study Buddy This packet includes: 28 activity pages/ 31 total pages

Practicing ABC's in reading group. Background This is the first year of 1:1 iPads in my kindergarten classroom. In October 2010 I rece...

A Typical Day in FDK! I have noticed that a lot of people search for full day kindergarten schedules in Ontario. I am assuming this is to see how people organize their days! I have included here a condensed schedule from one of the full day kindergarten classes that I was in, because, I absolutely loved this schedule. It really seemed to work well for our students and took a lot of tweaking to get this right! We certainly did not follow this every day because, as always, things come up in a school day. For the most part though, this is the schedule we tried to stick to as closely as we could. I have made some changes to the schedule but overall it is pretty close. Our board goes by the "Day" system which means we don't schedule based on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday or Friday but rather Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, Day 5. This makes allowances for things like professional activity days and teachers prep times because the next day bumps over and no one ever misses their prep time, gym time etc. I changed the Day titles to your typical days of the week. We also follow a "Balanced Day" which means that there is a 100 minute instructional block at the beginning of the day, followed by a 40 minute nutritional break (20 minutes for lunch and 20 minutes for recess), followed by another 100 minute instructional block, another 40 minute nutrition break and then the last 100 minute instructional block. And lastly, I removed the teachers prep times from the schedule. What Does the Full Day Early Learning Kindergarten Curriculum Say About Scheduling? The FDELK curriculum document states on pages 35, 36 and 37 that when planning the use of time educators should : offer large amounts of time to work at learning centres; plan instruction and activities that are for both small and whole group, as well as individual learning; ensure that there is a balance of both team and child-initiated learning activities; provide a daily block of time that is solely for play and include time for the children to become immersed in the activities, as well as the tidy-up time. It is recommended that the children have no less than one hour of uninterrupted time for play; plan for daily literacy and numeracy instruction (this can be done in a large or small group, or at learning centres); be sure to include time for "free exploration, focused exploration and guided activity." The document also recommends that when you are planning your time, to take into consideration the: attention span of your students; the amount of time the children have been going to school; the "strengths, needs and interests' of the students; group dynamic of your class. (You can view the full Ontario kindergarten document here.) How Have We Incorporated These Suggestions in Our Schedule? Wherever you see the word "freeplay" means that the children are free to play at the learning centres, and with both table top and carpet toys. We try to offer this every block with the largest chunk of time being in the morning and this is also the child-initiated time because they are free to choose; After every recess we try to have a gathering time on the carpet. This allows the opportunity to discuss any issues that may have come up over recess and, as well, the children can share anything they may have from the previous block of instructional time. We also try to do our mini math or literacy lesson as a whole group during this time; Typically after the gathering time we do "bins". The class is divided into five groups and we have five bins for both the literacy block and math block. The children only complete one bin activity per day and we rotate them over five days (five bins, one for each day.) There may be an activity related to the lesson and one educator may work in a small group with them, the other educator will move about the other activities assisting with individual needs and instruction. This only usually lasts about ten minutes and the children are then free to play. We usually offer table top toys with a literacy focus (or math depending on the block) and most centres; If we have a more focused lesson or guided reading, we will most often pull small groups at a time to work with during freeplay; On Thursday and Friday during the last half of the second block, we divide the class in two and the teacher may do a more focused or individualized lesson with certain students while the ECE takes the other half to computers, outside or to the gym. I will be going into more detail in other blog posts about how we do certain things during the day but I hope this post gives you some general insight into how these days looked for us and what the curriculum is looking for when planning your day!

February is the one of those months that is just packed full of holiday greatness! I love incorporating all of the fun themes! Presidents' Day is coming up very soon and I wanted to plan some fun things that I knew my students would love! I teach kindergarten, but I have modified all of these presidential activities for first and second grades, too. We are focusing on identifying key ideas and details within the text, so that's what I decided to make the core comprehension skill in this unit. Add a few cute crafts and my favorite presidential books and we are all set! So, these are probably my top 5 Presidents' Day books. I have more that I use, but you can only fit so many in within a week. This year, I went with these for our upcoming study. I have ordered some better George Washington books this year. I have the Kindle version of them, but I think it's important to have the actual books so they aren't pictured. I love George Washington and the General's Dog by Frank Murphy and The First President by Baby Professor for kindergarten. The ones I had on hand were a little to long for them. We are doing our Presidents' Day unit the week of the holiday, so it's only a four-day week. I will have to cram two days into one. Day One will go pretty quickly so I will read this book as an intro and students will register to vote in our classroom election later in the week. This book is ADORABLE! If you don't have it, order it NOW from Scholastic. It's super cute! I can't wait to read My Teacher is President to my kindergarteners. We are going to use the key details about a teacher to also try to persuade others' to vote for me in the classroom election. I'll be going up against Duck, so I'll need all the help I can get! I also can't wait to see their depictions of me with this craft. Should be interesting... Duck will be the second candidate in our election for President. This book is just hysterical and never gets old. They will also be recording key details from the text and recording reasons to vote for Duck. This craft is just darling, and I know they will love it! The last time we made Duck at Christmas, they giggled throughout the entire thing. They were so excited when it was completed. I have already told you about the George Washington books that we will be using, but I will also be showing a BrainPop JR. video. I'll do the same with Abraham Lincoln. This book about Abe Lincoln's Hat is really good! I did not know all of the history about his famous hat until I read this story. It's very interesting and all of the accounts are true. It's a perfect book for identifying key ideas and details. I am a firm believer in keeping your graphic organizers consistent. Students will start internalizing these while reading if you use the same ones enough within a skill. I came up with this one for identifying details to start getting kids ready for main ideas and details, since that is such a huge skill! At the end of the unit, students will cast their vote for their teacher or for Duck. I made a new ballot box this year. It's just a shoe box wrapped in craft paper. I included templates for the letters and stars in the pack so you could make your own. I also tried to make the ballots very simple for our young voters. After students vote, instead of getting a sticker, they get to make these fun buttons! It's just paper, but they turned out so cute. I usually attach stuff to kids' shirts with a paper clip. But if you want to get fancy, you could hot glue one of those pins to the back of it. Here is everything that is included in the Presidents' Day ELA unit below. But I am also throwing in a FREEBIE for everyone! Keep scrolling! We need some practice during our word work time with a few previous skills, so I created a freebie no prep pack for that week. You can grab it below. I hope you have a great upcoming week! Thanks for stopping by! Wish me luck in our classroom election! ;)

Hey all! I hope that you are enjoying your last few days of summer. I've had some questions lately from both new and veteran teachers alike about year-long pacing of curriculum. How can you make sure

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Check out this blog post full of Teddy Bear Picnic activities. Teddy bear hat craft, teddy directed drawing, coloring by number, cookie decorating, and more.

Ahhh... the first day of kindergarten! It's such an exciting day! An exhausting day! But what do you plan for that day? So many things you are excited to do with your students, but you have to remember it's the first day and keep it all in perspective!

Check out my daily Transitional Kindergarten schedule to take a peek at a "normal" day in a TK classroom that includes PLAY!

Preschool daily schedule examples, hours, and free printable template for full-day and half-day Preschool and Pre-K classrooms.